Breathe And Take You In
by Kari Kurofai
Summary: They're drowning. There's no way out. The pain is always worth it for the ones you love. OT3. Superboy/Robin/Kid Flash  Conner/Dick/Wally . Oneshot


**Breath And Take You In**

They're drowning. There's no other way to describe it. Their enemy of the day had trapped them in what seemed to be some sort of solid steel cylinder, at least five feet thick if not more, almost twenty feet deep, and electrically locked from the outside. Which wasn't too much of a problem because hey, Superboy was in there too, nothing to it.

Except the tube had filled with water, the stuff gushing in from god knows where and filling the thing in less than a minute, they barely had time to hold their breath, let alone work out a plan while there was still enough air to talk. It was times like that when Kid Flash really wished they didn't split the group up on missions, because it would have been a great time to have Aqualad with them. Especially when Superboy started to panic, and both Wally and Robin realized that apparently Cadmus did not teach basic swimming.

Robin barely had enough time to grab the larger teen, locking eyes with him and kicking his arms and legs in demonstration, praying that Superboy would get the hint, before the three of them were underwater.

It should have been easy, but with nothing to stabilize him when he pushed, Superboy couldn't make more than a large dent in the roof of the cylinder. And while the clone could apparently hold his breath indefinitely, Robin and Kid Flash could not. And Robin was smaller, his lungs were smaller, and he was already turning blue in the face well before the rush of bubbles escaped him.

At that point, Wally didn't really have any other choice. While Superboy dove after the boy wonder when he started to sink, Kid Flash focused his attention on the roof of the tube, knowing that Superboy would take care of Robin the minute or so it would take him to get them out. Flipping over on his back in the water, the redhead pressed his palms and the soles of his feet against the metal lid, closing his eyes and praying this wouldn't be as painful as the last time.

He'd only ever had to vibrate through doors before, the largest being three, maybe four inches thick. Not five plus feet. Not made of solid steel. And even that had given him a terrible nosebleed. Fear boiled up inside of him as be began to feel his molecules, his very atoms, separate and push through the lid of the tube, inch by inch until he couldn't feel the water at his back. And holy fuck, it hurt. It was like a thousand knives ripping through him, the pain spiking the further he got. But if he stopped now, he'd be stuck. Useless atoms squished into steel forever and ever. And Robin would die. He couldn't let Robin die.

When his hands struck air, he nearly cried out in relief, except that his mouth and face weren't reassembled yet. A little farther, and he rolled off the slightly elevated lid of the tube and onto the tiled laboratory floor. Wally sucked in a gulp of air, his whole body curling in with a spasm of pain with the action, and he shrieked. Something was wrong, he'd done it wrong. He coughed, retching and clutching at his stomach as he heaved, spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the floor. Shit.

He lay there for a second, debating on the consequences of moving with possibly mangled insides. Except that his teammates were drowning. Superboy was fine, for a little while at least, but Robin . . . God, he hoped he wasn't already too late. Pushing himself to his knees he crawled towards the monitors not too far away from the tube, dragging himself up so that he was eyelevel with what looked to be the main one, tapping at the keys desperately. A off switch, a hatch open button, something. Anything. He wasn't an experienced hacker, like Robin was, but he did know science. He knew probability and problem solving, the scientific method. There were sixty-three execution programs on this computer and . . .

Fuck that. There was always luck.

He pressed the seventeenth file and slid to the floor, stomach clenching as he vomited up another round of blood.

In the water, Superboy was pushing as hard as he could on the lid with his free hand, the other held Robin against his chest, small bubbles escaping the boy wonder's mouth every few heartbeats. He couldn't do it, he couldn't get enough leverage when he kept sinking every few kicks. And he was running out of air as well. Robin tugged at the collar of his shirt, and Conner left his useless efforts of trying to escape to tilt his head down, catching the younger teen's lips against his own and breathing out, giving him what little air he'd had left as he had been doing since Wally had disappeared through the solid steel above.

They were going to die here.

Except that, as if on cue, the lid started to slide aside. Slowly but surely it moved, revealing a sliver of light and a gust of air. Superboy swam towards it, pushing Robin up ahead of him once the opening was wide enough, scrambling out into fresh, beautiful air soon after.

Robin had collapsed on the cool tiled floor, chest heaving as he sucked in breath after glorious breath, soaking wet cape leaving a trail of water all around him. Superboy lay down beside him, cheek to tile as he breathed, closing his eyes.

"Where's Wally?" Robin asked after a moment, rolling over onto his side and spitting out some water he'd most likely inhaled before Superboy had reached him. Conner opened his eyes, frowning as he sat up.

"There," he pointed, grabbing Robin under the arm and tugging him to where he had spotted the splash of red and gold. The unmoving red and gold.

Robin inhaled sharply, holding back whatever pained noise he'd been about to make, and dug his fingers into Superboy's arm. Blood. Too much blood. "Oh . . . God . . ."

The Flash had said Wally was going to be fine. When Aqualad had arrived just minutes later they'd flown back to the mountain as fast as they could, Megan nearly crashing the bio-ship into the ground when they landed. Barry had explained that Kid Flash hadn't had enough training to pass through such thick objects, and he'd reassembled himself a little wrong. With Superman's X-ray vision to help, he'd been able to vibrate his own atoms, activating Wally's to do the same so he could put things back the way they should be. His insides were fine, but Wally had twisted a bone in his arm as well, and when the Flash set it back in place he said it would probably feel still for a few days.

So Wally's uncle had carried him to one of the guest rooms and tucked him in, reassuring them that he'd wake up soon, suggesting they let him rest, and then running off to go meet up with the rest of the League for recon.

Robin sat on the sofa, knees drawn up to his chest as he stared at the television flickering in the dark. Everyone else had gone to bed, but he couldn't sleep. The news played on, but he paid little attention to it. If he'd been better trained, been able to hold his breath longer, Wally wouldn't have had to do that. Pursing his lips, Dick inhaled through his nose, filling his lungs and holding his breath.

Panic set in almost instantly, so soon after being in such a situation, and he let the breath out after only a few seconds, sucking in another and another to calm himself. He wasn't drowning anymore.

"You okay?"

The boy wonder nearly jumped out of his skin. He was so rarely caught off guard, that the very act of being caught off guard was more startling than it should have been, and he turned to glare at the perpetrator half heartedly. "I'm fine, thanks."

Conner raised a disbelieving eyebrow, swinging himself over the back of the couch to sit beside the other, spreading out over the cushions and taking up as much room as humanly possible until Robin was squished into the corner. "I can tell when you're lying," he hummed, prodding Dick with his foot.

Robin scowled, shoving the foot away and crawling over Superboy, stretching out over him and tucking his face into the crook of the larger boy's neck, "It's my fault," he whispered, "I couldn't hold my breath-"

Superboy huffed in disagreement, tangling his fingers into Robin's hair, "And I couldn't budge the lid. It's no one's fault, just a bad situation with a bad ending. It could be worse." Dick swallowed at the thought and Conner sighed, "Come on," he said, "Get up."

"Huh?"

Not waiting for any protests, Superboy stood, taking Dick with him, the boy wonder in his arms, and strode towards the hallway and down to the guest rooms.

"Wait, no, stop," Robin pleaded, "Barry said to let him rest-"

"And we're not going to stop him from doing so," Superboy informed. He kicked open the door to Kid Flash's room, depositing Robin on the bed next to the uncurious sidekick, yanking back the previously neatly tucked in blankets and shoving the younger teen underneath them beside the redhead before slipping in himself.

Robin reach out, tracing strap of the sling Wally's arm was in up to his shoulder, following the curve of his clavicle to his throat and then his jaw, fingers lingering as he felt the steady flow of breath against his skin. In. Out. In. Out. He sighed, relief flooding through him before he buried his face against the sleeping redhead's chest, letting out a soft sob.

Superboy watched him for a moment before curling an arm around Robin's chest, fitting himself against the smaller teen's back, his other hand finding the steady pulse on the side of Kid Flash's neck just to ease his own, quieter fears. "It's no one's fault," he repeated.

"I know," Robin exhaled, shivering slightly until Superboy tightened his hold on him. "Thank you . . . For today . . ." he murmured suddenly, making the other blink in confusion. "For, er, giving me air."

Superboy smirked, "Oh, that." He tilted his head, placing a kiss on the back of the other's neck, watching him flush, "Anytime."

Robin nodded, closing his eyes and hooking a finger around the strap of Wally's sling, "And you too," he added, though he knew the other couldn't hear. "Thanks, Wally."

Wally snored, and the other two laughed, the sound filling the quiet darkness of the room.

RANDOM AUTHOR RAMBLE

Yes, yes, I know I should be working on my SPN stuff. But final draft for Gabriel Big Bang is due in a few days, and I have midterms, and POKEMON BLACK AND WHITE *erhem* and I have, like, no inspiration. For anything but Young Justice. And Superboy/Robin. And Superboy/Robin/Kid Flash. And Red Arrow/Kid Flash. O 3o so have an OT3 fic. Because I adore it. Maybe I'll do a sequel. With shower sex. *drool* unf.

ANYWHO . . . Yup. It is done. Review. Ignore errors, it's unbeta-ed.


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